Kathmandu, November 9

Parking congestion at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) has been blamed for a mishap on Friday. An aircraft of Shree Airlines collided with a parked aircraft of Yeti Airlines on Friday while it was being parked at the TIA parking bay.

According to Shree Airlines, the CRJ - 700 series aircraft, which took off from Biratnagar, was about to be parked after it landed. “Our aircraft slightly grazed the ATR - 72 series aircraft of Yeti Airlines, but there was no major damage,” said Anil Manandhar, corporate head of Shree Airlines.

He further said that such incidents have become quite normal at TIA as the country’s sole international airport is choking with parking congestion. “Parking congestion has become a regular issue at TIA. Such minor incidents occur during these situations,” Manandhar added.

Meanwhile, Bhim Raj Rai, media spokesperson for Yeti Airlines, said that generally parking congestion creates such incidents at airports. “It is the tourist season now and domestic aircraft are in a rush to carry passengers,” he said, adding, “It was the peak hour when the incident happened and we always have to make compromises for parking at TIA,” he said. As per him, airline operators have been facing difficulty in parking at the TIA since long owing to less number of parking bays with small space.

Rai further said that the increasing number of big aircraft is also another reason for the parking congestion at TIA. “In recent years, domestic airline companies in the country are adding 72-seater big regional transport aeroplanes. Increasing number of larger aircraft and the limited parking bays in the airport ultimately create congestion that causes several problems such as yesterday’s incident,” he said.

Along with the number of aircraft, the number of flights has also increased significantly in the domestic sector, which has made parking congestion a regular phenomenon at TIA, he added.

Currently, there are nine parking bays at TIA and two more parking bays were recently constructed under the TIA upgradation project. Two more parking bays are under construction at the moment and are targeted to be completed by December.